Thanks for being here, Zack
by RoseWoodsPrettiestLiar
Summary: Cody's suffering from a broken heart after the ship docked in Paris and joined the Brotherhood of the Hooded Brothers in Monte Carlo. It didn't work out as he like imagined, we've seen that and Zack&Woody had to go rescue him. What will happen once the guys get back on the boat? Who will help Cody get through this? Brotherly love. NO TWINCEST !


Thanks for being here, Zack

Note from the author : Hey all! Here it is. A Zack&Cody-oneshot. I hope you will all enjoy it! It's NOT a twincest-fic. I hate those. Anyway, don't forget to review!

Disclaimer : I haven't won the rights to the Suite Life series on the fair, so I guess I don't them. ;(

In this fanfic : Cody's still heart-broken after the Paris-debacle and has tried joining the brotherhood of the Hooded Brothers. It doesn't help him get over Bailey at all and he gets back on the ship. What will help him get over Bailey?

ZACK POV :

Woody, Cody and I had just returned from the island with the Pathetic Bald Brothers and we were trying to convince Cody to come to dinner with us. I was pretty sure he had lost about 10 pounds since he left the ship for those idiots.

"Come on, Cody," I begged. "You have to eat something."

"I'm not hungry, Zack." He said.

"You can't just stop eating. You're going to end up looking like a skeleton !"

I threw Woody a look that said "Do something or I'll kill you!"

"Cody, Zack's right. Eat something. I heard ice-cream and chocolate really help."

I rolled my eyes. Trust Woody to come up with a solution involving sweets. I guess we could give it a try. I really didn't want to lose my brother over some chick.

"Yeah, buddy. Try some ice-cream. Maybe cherry or strawberry or blueberry or..."

"Hey losers," Suddenly we heard a bubbly voice coming from behind us. We slowly turned around. Being called losers never led to something nice.

"London, why so cheery?" I asked.

"Because I did something nice today !"

Woody said what we were all thinking.

"You did something nice ?! What did you do ; buy a whole new wardrobe, put everything in Bailey's closet and say ; 'Be happy. Now you don't have to look at those hideous clothes of yours!' Because that's not nice, London. That's mean."

I laughed at that and even saw Cody cracking a tiny smile.

"No... Well, yes. I bought a new wardrobe and that was nice for me, but I did something nice for Bailey too."

I saw Cody lower himself even further in his seat and figured that even mentioning her name right now, was painful for him.

"What did you do?" Woody asked.

"I helped her get over her broken heart!" London jumped up and down and did her signature 'Yay-me'-dance.

I saw Cody's face fall.

"Y-y-you... WHAT ?" I yelled.

"You heard me. Bailey's totally over your geeky brother." At least she had the decency to whisper it into my ear. But still, I'm pretty sure he heard her. And I was right.

Looking over at Cody again, I saw tears glistening in his eyes.

"How did she get over him so soon?" I asked her. "They broke up less than 48 hours ago. They dated for a whole year! You can't just forget that!"

"She did. Now, if you'll excuse me; I have to go chance for my double-date. Holden and this new cute rich guy are taking Bailey and I out on the Fiesta Deck. Bye!" and she went off to the back of the ship.

_Probably calling her shoe-submarine to the surface to seek for the perfect pair that she can't find in the 500 pairs she has in her closet. _I thought.

It didn't matter how long I had known the heiress, she never ceases to amaze me.

I turned back to my brother and saw that he and Woody were gone.

I searched for my cell phone to call my brother and heard his phone ringing in my back pocket.

_Shit,_ I thought.

I felt a hand on my shoulder spinning me around. I was starting to get dizzy from all this turning around.

"Zack, have you found Cody yet?" I had never heard Mr. Moseby so concerned about either one of us. Then again, I never really listened to anything he ever said.

"I did, Moseby. But now I've lost him again."

"What do mean 'you've lost him again'?" he asked in that tone of his.

"Well, London came over to talk to us and told us she had helped Bailey get over Cody. When I turned my back to Cody to ask her how that happened, he must've left the Sky Deck. You haven't seen him by any chance?"

"I haven't seen him, no. But I have seen Bailey just now and between the two of us, she didn't look like she was already over your brother, Zack. Her mascara was smudged, her eyes were full of tears and she was walking around in sweatpants. I think she's feeling worse by the day."

"Serves her right for breaking my brother's heart..." I muttered.

"I know you hate what she did to him and I know I shouldn't say what I'm about to say but you should feel a little bit better knowing that she's hurting just as much as your brother."

"I know, Moseby. And I know I shouldn't say _this_, but I do enjoy it. Her being hurt just as much as he is. And I know she's my friend and all, and I should feel sorry for her but she's not my twin. I don't have this connection with her that I have with Cody."

There was a funny look in Moseby's eyes.

"Moseby, you're looking kind of weird right now. Like you've just seen a wedding being sealed by a kiss... Stop it! You're scaring me!"

"The weird look is a look of pride, Zack. You've just proven that you genuinely care about your brother. You've proven you have feelings, Zack. I couldn't be more proud of you."

"Uh, thanks I guess. And of course I care about my brother. He's my twin. He's the only thing that hasn't changed once in my life. Not when our parents got divorced. Not when we moved across the country with mom's shows. Not when we moved into the Tipton or when we got on this boat. He's ALWAYS been there for me. Now I need to be there for him. Where do you think he is?"

I saw a tear rolling out of Moseby's eyes. Suddenly he pulled me in for a hug. I hate to admit it, but it felt good. I just understood how much the whole 'Cody-being-hurt'-thing was affecting me. Moseby had always been the strict uncle that you like anyway for me and my brother. He was there for advice when our dad wasn't. That's when you learn to appreciate someone.

Moseby pulled himself together.

"If I were you I would follow the trail of tear-soaked snippets of pictures."

He pointed at the floor and I followed his finger. He was right, there were snippets of pictures scattered around. I looked a little bit closer and saw that they were all coming from the pictures in Cody's room. They all had a part of Bailey in them.

"Thanks for the tip, Moseby." And I set off in search of my little brother.

CODY POV :

Hearing London say that Bailey was already over me had hurt me. But hearing her say Bailey was already going out with Holden had completely broken me. I was sure I was going to die from the pain in my chest.

I got into my bathroom and started a shower. It would be the first one not in the sea in 3 days.

I got in the shower and tried to let the warm water soothe me. It didn't work. Sighing I got out of the shower and dried off. I put on my pajamas and took a look at myself in the mirror.

My eyes were red rimmed and my skin was completely dehydrated from all the crying and the countless hours of sleep I had missed. The salty sea water had probably something to do with it as well. Not to mention the lack of vitamins and minerals.

Sighing once more, I took out a new toothbrush and the bottle of toothpaste and brushed my teeth. Picking up my bottle of moisturizer I started rubbing my skin in gentle circles.

It reminded me of the way Bailey would rub my back with sun-lotion. I felt myself starting to tear up again.

Thinking that that would be my life for the next few months, the sighing, the sleepless nights, the crying, I got in my bed and put the pillow over my head and tried to sleep.

2 hours later I heard a knock on my door and I looked at my alarm clock. 11:55 PM.

_Who could that be?_ I thought.

I looked over at Woody's bed and saw that it hadn't yet been slept in.

Frowning I opened the door. In the darkness from my room and the hall I could only see a shadow.

"Cody, it's me." The shadow said.

"Zack?"

"Yeah, buddy. I brought you some yoghurt, an apple and a bottle of water. Thought you could use some liquids in your body."

"Thanks. But why are you here with all of this at 11:55 PM?"

I turned on my bedside lamp and there was my twin. 5'10" tall, the same blonde hair on his head and the blue-green-greyish eyes that we shared. The only difference right now was that he had a troubled expression on his face.

"I'm here because half an hour ago, Woody came knocking on my and Marcus' cabin door and said you had been crying in your sleep for the past hour and a half and told me that seeing as you're my brother I should be the one who you kept awake all night."

"So basically, Woody kicked you out of your cabin and that's the only reason you're here?"

I couldn't help but be hurt even more. I wondered why it surprised me Zack was only here because he didn't have anywhere else to go.

"No, Woody did not kick me out and no that's not the only reason I'm here."

"What do you mean Woody didn't kick you out?"

"The minute he came in and said you had been crying I jumped out of bed and put on a shirt. He didn't have to say that I should be the one being kept awake by you because I was already up. I had already come here to check up on you, but you were in bed by then, so I figured I would see you in the morning..."

His explanation didn't really make sense to me anymore so I interrupted.

"Why are you here, Zack?"

"I'm here because my baby-brother is hurt. Because his now ex-girlfriend has hurt him so bad that the only things he does is cry, sigh and try to sleep. I'm here because my baby-brother needs me to be here."

Zack came over and sat next to me on my bed. I realized he was right. I did need him here.

"How did you know I needed you here? I didn't even know it myself..."

I knew what his answer would be, I just needed to hear him say it.

"Twin-telepathy, Codes. The almighty bond between twins."

I smiled at that. It was a catch-phrase he had created around the time our parents got divorced.

He positioned himself against the headboard of my bed and held his arms out for me.

"Come here," he said.

I nestled myself next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. My face in the crook of his neck and he wrapped his strong arms around my neck. He just held me and for the first time since the break-up I felt at ease. I felt safe. I knew he was waiting for me to start talking.

"Thanks, Zack." I whispered.

"For what?" "Being here for me."

"Hey, of course I'm here. I'm your big brother. It's my duty as a brother to be here for you."

"Since when do you care about what you need or have to do?"

He chuckled.

"Since it concerns you, baby bro. You want to tell me why I found your bed empty Monday morning? You scared the hell out of me, Codes."

"I was missing Bailey and I had relived the break-up the whole night. Because of the break-up I wasn't thinking clearly and I had heard about the brotherhood and I thought being away from her and the ship would help me get over my broken heart."

"You were going to get over Bailey by being silent and making pottery? Cody, you're always telling me that I should talk to you if there's something wrong with me. Why didn't you talk to me?"

"Because you don't talk about feelings, Zack. And you've never felt the way about a girl that I feel about Bailey. Or did, until she broke up with me. I thought you would think I'm a wimp. Or you'd call me a loser. And I don't think I could've handled that."

"First of all, I pretend to not give a crap about feelings, Cody. You're right, I've never felt that way about a girl. But have you ever guessed that there might be a reason to that? By pretending to not care about feelings I have a slighter chance of getting hurt. Second of all, all those times I called you a wimp for acting on your feelings, there was always a part of me that admired your courage. You just tell the girl how you feel about her. I've never been able to do that. And third of all, I may call you a loser but I never mean it. I couldn't. Not even if I wanted to. I'm sorry if I hurt you when I say that. Truth is; You're my brother, Cody. My twin. And I love you. That's why I'm here."

"I am glad you're here, Zack. You were right, I do need you. And I love you, too. You're the best brother I could ask for."

"Well then, as the best brother that you could ask for, I command you to drink some of this water, eat some of this yoghurt and try to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

"I can't sleep, Zack. I haven't been able to sleep since the night on the Eiffel Tower. I keep re-living that moment in my dreams."

"Look, Codes. I'll be here, beside you, the whole night. I'll make sure none of those nightmares haunt you."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Remember when we were docked in Peru? I bought this." Zack got something out of his pocket. It was a dream-catcher.

"Each of the charms represents our brotherhood."

"You made it yourself?" I had noticed that the charms were made of wood. And everyone knows Zack's great at wood-shop.

"Yeah, see the horse is Tippy. It stands for what we are capable of when we work as a team. The man in the suit is J-dog. It reminds us of our adventure as spies. The heart is for the bond between us. And the sun and earth reminds you that I need my baby-brother like the earth needs the sun…"

"And like I need my big brother… I love it, Zack. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now go to sleep. Tomorrow, we dock in Ibiza and we can go see all the weird plants that grow there."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather go dancing with Marcus and Woody?"

"Sure I want to go dancing, but I would rather be sure you're okay and not running off again. I need you here with me, Codes."

"If I promise not to go running off again, will you go out then? I'm sure you don't want to babysit me the whole day tomorrow…"

"I'll go out with the guys if you come with us."

"Okay. I'll go with you. Thanks for inviting me, Zack."

He laughed. "Of course I'm inviting you. I'm not leaving your side for the next few days. Just to make sure I don't have to go hiking through woods to find you."

I grinned.

"Go to sleep, Codes. I'll be here when you wake up. I promise."

For the first time this week I could feel myself falling asleep. Just before I closed my eyes I murmured one last thing;

"Thanks for being here, Zack."

"Anytime, baby-bro. Anytime." Was the last I heard.

**A/N ; Any thoughts? Review please! **


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